If you try to drive… I’ll tax the street
If you try to sit… I’ll tax your seat
If you get too cold… I’ll tax the heat
If you take a walk… I’ll tax your feet
… Taxman!
-The Beatles
Governor Wes Moore once said raising taxes in Maryland would be a “high bar” for him. After this year’s legislative session, it seems the bar was not merely lowered, it was rolled into a ditch.
In a single session, Moore and his Democrats managed to assemble the most sweeping array of tax increases and new fees in a generation. They taxed your paycheck. They taxed your investments. They taxed your car, your ride-share, your vending machine snack, and your delivery package. They taxed your rental property, your cannabis, and—just for good measure—your next data and IT service invoice. Marylanders can be forgiven for wondering whether they will soon be taxed for breathing air east of Hoye-Crest in Garrett County.
The justification for this assault on taxpayers? A $3 billion budget shortfall. But rather than look inward—at the flabby mass of Maryland’s administrative bureaucracy, its duplicative programs, its gilded agencies—the Moore administration reached, predictably, for the taxpayer’s wallet.
Not once in this budget cycle did we witness a serious effort to reorganize or reform government. Not one cabinet agency was consolidated. Not one sacred cow slaughtered.
Instead, the General Assembly raised income taxes on so-called “high earners”—code for small business owners, professionals, and retirees who saved a lifetime and now find Maryland penalizing them for their prudence. A 6.5% tax on income over $1 million may sound just to some, but don’t be fooled: when government needs more, that threshold will creep lower.
Capital gains? Now surcharged. Recreational cannabis? Taxed at a rate that would make a bootlegger blush. Even the Maryland Vehicle Emissions Inspection fee—previously a tolerable $14—was doubled, a punishment for the privilege of owning a car. And if you were trying to go green with an electric vehicle, congratulations: the state now charges you up to $182 a year for using fewer fossil fuels. That’s not policy. That’s predation.
All this might be more tolerable if these dollars were dedicated with discipline. Instead, they are poured into an ever-growing web of programs designed less to reform Maryland’s foundations than to cement political coalitions. A taxpayer-funded abortion fund. A reparations commission. A permanent young adult health subsidy. More consultants. More commissions. More bureaucracy.
What’s missing from all of this is the simple, bracing discipline of doing more with less. Maryland’s government has not been right-sized. It has not been restructured. No brave hand has reached into the bloated machinery of state to blare out, “Stop!”
And so, the taxpayer is asked again—and again—to carry the burden of Annapolis’ indulgences. The danger for the Governor and his Democrats in the Legislature is not only in what they’ve done… it’s what they’ll do next.
Because if, in 2026, Governor Moore’s Democrats return to the citizens of Maryland and ask for more—more taxes, more fees, more patience—they will find none. They will find something else. They will find a voter who is fed up. A business owner who is closing shop. A retiree headed for Delaware. They will find a reckoning.
And when it comes, it will not arrive with a whisper—but with a roar loud enough to shake the marble columns of the Government House.
Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr. is a life-long Eastern Shoreman, an attorney, and former Chairman of the Maryland Department of Labor’s Board of Appeals. He is co-host of the Gonzales/Mitchell Show podcast that discusses politics, business, and cultural issues.
Paula Reeder says
With all of his recent spy broadcasts castigating the moore administration, what do you want to bet Mr. Mitchell is the behind the scenes campaign manager for Mr Hogan?
Gren Whitman says
Taxes, Mr. Mitchell, are the price we pay for democratic and humane communities. It appears you would relish an extended visit from Elon Musk to trash Maryland’s state government after he’s finished trashing our national government.
Mike Waal says
Hi Clayton,
Thanks for your analysis.
I wanted the opportunity to meet you at a resent Kent County event, but I was told attendance was closed to just registered Republicans. I have attended a number of RoK events, but was shut out of this one.
Regards the State, and County Budgets, I have yet to read you pointing a finger at the elephant in the budget room … THE BLUEPRINT EDUCATION PLAN! The $4BILLION/YEAR STATE UNFUNDED MANDATE that is causing chaos and discontent within every County and County Equivalent in the State, and for that matter the State itself.
According to the Dept. Of Legislative Services, singling out our local jurisdiction, the funding that Kent County taxpayers might be asked to make up to implement THE BLUEPRINT are as follows: KCPS FY27 Budget is scheduled to be $2.5 million more than FY26; FY28 Budget scheduled to be $1.4 million more than FY27; FY29 $1.7 million more than FY28; FY30 $2.5 million more than FY29, and from FY30 the increases go up exponentially. All totaled somewhere between 35% and 100% increase in Real Estate Tax Bills just to fund THE BLUEPRINT when all is said and done.
Note: this is not Kent County Commissioner funding, but Kent County Taxpayer Funding.
Every news article about the State’s Budget, and every news article about Counties trying to balance their Budgets have a single common denominator of expense … THE BLUEPRINT EDUCATION PLAN, AKA THE KIRWAN EDU PLAN.
The General Assembly … i.e., Senate President Ferguson, House Speaker Jones and High Profile Committee Chairs Guzzone and Barnes, the people who are truly running the State, have increased and created 338 taxes and fees for FY25, and another 50 tax and fee increases and creations quantified for FY26, some of which you point out, in order to help balance the State Budget.
Lest we forget the huge amount of expense dollars the State has shifted down to Counties; what Gov. Moore called tax cuts. I think the dollar amount for Kent County is $1.6Million of State expanses the State shifted down to Kent county. [I stand to be corrected, as I ‘think’ that is the number I heard.]
Every County/County Equivalent is in Structural Deficit Status now because of THE BLUEPRINT EDUCATION PLAN, AKA THE KIRWAN EDU PLAN.
Please, would you address how Moody’s AAA credit rating for Maryland is now in critical jeopardy because Moody’s realizes Maryland and its Counties cannot financially sustain funding the unfunded THE BLUEPRINT EDUCATION PLAN, AKA THE KIRWAN EDU PLAN mandate.
For those who wish to read a thorough analysis of the funding requirements to implement THE BLUEPRINT, may I recommend you read this Dept. of Legislative Services Fiscal Note.
https://dls.maryland.gov/pubs/prod/Educ/LocalFiscalImpactofImplementingtheBlueprintforMarylandsFuture.pdf
Please note that the Exhibit 2.2 on page 11 was been revised just in time for this year’s General Assembly Session, and the total funding requirements for Kent County increased by a factor of $12Million, 28%.
Within the first 3 pages of this document, Kent County, and a few other Counties, are singled out as being SIGNIFICANTLY FINANCIALLY IMPACTED in the financial effort to implement THE BLUEPRINT EDUCATION PLAN, AKA THE KIRWAN EDU PLAN.
You do a great job of educating readers of The Spy, please educate them on THE BLUEPRINT EDUCATION PLAN!
Mike Waal